Though Anna Hazare gets much of the credit for focusing the national spotlight on corruption, India was only too aware of the problem even before his agitation. According to a Pew Research poll in October 2010 (six months before Hazare emerged on the national scene), 98 per cent of Indians indicate corrupt political leaders as a “very big” or a “moderately big” problem. Hazare’s campaign did not attune Indians to...

This article seeks to explain the elements of the raging controversy over the Mullaperiyar dam for the information of the general reader. There are four distinct aspects to this case, and these are elucidated below. (a) Extraordinary nature of the project: This is a project involving the eastward diversion of the waters of a west-flowing river, which has been celebrated as a gigantic feat of 19th century engineering. It was a...

-The Indian Express It made a wan sight — the expanse of Mumbai’s MMRDA ground, the site for the next phase of Anna Hazare’s “second independence struggle”, looked even larger because of the small crowd pressing into the centre. Less than a tenth of the numbers expected actually showed up. What a change from a few months back, when Team Anna seemed to be the unstoppable force that collided with the...

In Chhattisgarh, people swear by the PDS, which has witnessed a revival since 2004 when the government revamped it. IN Chhattisgarh, as part of the survey on public distribution system (PDS) versus cash transfers, a team of student volunteers visited 12 villages spread across Mahasamund and Sarguja districts. The State may have been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent times, but the way its PDS worked...

-The Hindustan Times   The horror of infant deaths returned to haunt the Malda Medical College and Hospital on Friday when six babies died within a span of 10 hours. The condition of several other babies is stated to be critical. The Malda hospital made headlines at least twice this year —first, when nine babies died within 36 hours in November and the second time when 15 babies died within 72 hours...